Day 2
Session 5
Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of Life Church.tv spoke on “How Leader’s Can Get IT and Keep IT”. The “IT” factor is sort of an intangible sense that something really good is going on in a church. Though Craig couldn’t define exactly what “IT” is, he was pretty sure that it had something to do with the Holy Spirit.
He did identify certain qualities that seem to be there when IT is present.
- Ministries that have IT have a laser focus. They are asking the question, “What can we be the very best at”, and then they only do that.
- Churches with IT see opportunities instead of obstacles
- Those with IT have a willingness to fail.
One great quote from this point was when Craig said “Failure is not an option, it is a necessity. It is often the first step to really seeing God.”
- Churches who have IT are led by leaders who have IT
The fact that Craig Groeschel was speaking at the summit was one of the main reasons I chose to attend and he did not disappoint. If you missed it you may want to check out his new book titled IT: How Churches can Get IT and Keep IT
Session 6
Chuck Colson, chairman and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries and author of numerous books on Christian Faith and Biblical World View spoke on Defending the Faith.
Chuck really challenged pastors with some statistics about how few Christians actually have a Biblical World View and made the statement “if you are a shepherd of a leader your job is not to pander to your people but to teach them the truth.”
He pointed out that a disciple is fundamentally a disciplined learner.
I really would have liked to see some interaction between Chuck Colson and John Burke. Colson seems really strong on the truth side of things and Burke very strong relationally an loving people, which I think would make for some interesting dialogue about where those Christian values intersect.
Session 7
Catherine Rohr, founder and CEO of Prison Entrepreneurship Program talked about Risk Taking, Barrier Breaking and Bold Leadership
Catherine is a small, and attractive woman who is in her early thirties and has only been a Christ-follower for 5 years, but is putting to shame many who have been believers for decades with her commitment and drive to make a difference in the world.
The Prison Entrepreneurship Program brings in top CEOs and business people to Texas prisons and trains selected inmates nearing parole on how to use their already existing entrepreneurial gifts to form a legitimate business. Her courage and drive to do this amazed me!
She was also very humble about it saying, “God doesn’t really need me – he just needs me to follow instructions.”
Session 8
Brad Anderson, Vice-Chairman an CEO of Best Buy spoke on An Uncompromising Focus on People
This was a discussion format session between Brad and Bill Hybels.
Brad talked about the importance of having a genuine focus on people even when you are in senior leadership. If people are having major problems in their personal life this effects their job performance as well, so it even makes sense from a business perspective to take the time to talk with the employees through personal issues and to help them get the help that they need. On this he said “if I have a leader going through a personal crisis I realize I am going to have a performance problem”.
Brad says that over the years he has probably read several thousand Biographies, and that these have really taught him a whole lot about people.
Session 9
Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church spoke on Being Relentless.
The conference was really good. I found it so helpful and inspiring to hear from so many different leaders all doing great things, but each out of their unique calling, personality and gifting. If you missed it this year it would be worth your time to check it out next year. For you college students, I found out that you can go for a discounted price of 75$. So if you want to go mark it on your calendar for August 6-7, 2009!